Staring at your smartphone all day is creating some pretty serious neck problems

An international research team has conducted a study aimed at assessing the ergonomic risk of smartphone use – and the results are not pretty.

The research team, supervised by Rose Boucaut from the University of South Australia, evaluated the correlation between musculoskeletal disorders and smartphone use.

30 participants were given the task to sit down with their devices and text while their postures were being video recorded.

Three independent researchers evaluated the clips to determine the level of ergonomic risk using an observation-based screening tool called RULA (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment), a tool widely utilised to assess the postural risk created by using electronic devices.

The team found that poor posture while using a smartphone posed a significant risk of neck and upper back musculoskeletal disorders.

“The RULA results identified the high ergonomics risk of smartphone users, this resulted from two key risk factors: posture and muscle use,” reads the paper.

So it does seem “text neck” is a real thing after all. Being glued to our personal little ‘black mirror’ places stress on the spine and alters the neck’s natural curve, which in turn, dangerously increases the likelihood of injury.

This study is not the only one to point out the negative impact that texting has on our health.

A separate study from 2017, also involving the University of South Australia, studied a group of 779 undergraduate smartphone users in Thailand to determine a link between neck disorders and phone use.

Guess what? They also found that high prevalence of neck pain and other musculoskeletal disorders derived from smartphone use.

About the author

Filmmaker. 3D artist. Procrastination guru. I spend most of my time doing VFX work for my upcoming film Servicios Públicos, a sci-fi dystopia about robots, overpopulated cities and tyrant states. @iampineros